Food from the Sky

In Thorntons Budgens supermarket in North London the vegetables come from the sky. Quite literally, because they are homegrown on the roof of the supermarket. But it is also not your everyday supermarket. An integrated part of the business model is to develop both a socially responsible profile as well as a sustainability profile. For this and for many other initiatives the supermarket has received several awards, most recently both the ’Green Business of the Year 2010’ and ’London Business Award 2010’.

’Food from the Sky’ is one of the many initiatives Thorntons Budgens participate in. The vision is ” To grow Life, Food and Communities on our most cemented places”. The concrete project takes place on the roof of the supermarket, which in only 5 months was transformed from a normal, flat, asphaltcovered roof to a lush garden filled with vegetables, berries, herbs, and many more crops. The crops are grown with help from volunteers from the local community and are being sold in the supermarket below the garden. All the crops are grown to organic standards and organic waste from the supermarket is being used to produce compost, that is being put into use in the garden.

The project is non-for-profit. All the proceeds from the sale of the various crops go directly back to the project. The main focus of the project is to inspire and teach others that it is possible to grown vegetables and fruit organically in the city. Simultaneously the project has a social aspiration, showing how projects like this can contribute to the local community with learning about the connection between food and the city. Read more about the project: Thorntons Budgens and Food from the Sky and article in The Guardian. Check out more images from the project here.